Written Answers

Friday 12 May 2000

Scottish Executive

Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the test of "substantial loss or disadvantage" in section 19(7) of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill requires clarification and, in particular, whether it should be made clear that the Lands Tribunal for Scotland should not accept that "substantial loss or disadvantage" will occur simply because of the ending of the practice which has developed since the commencement of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 whereby a grassum is paid to a feudal superior by a vassal in exchange for a minute of waiver so that the vassal need not make an application under the 1970 Act for removal or variation of a burden.

Mr Jim Wallace: In response to Mr Ewing's amendment on this point at Stage 3 of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill, I explained that the Lands Tribunal does not award compensation for the loss of a right to claim a waiver.

  The loss or disadvantage that is envisaged by section 19 is loss to the superior or former superior as owner of the land, and not merely the loss of any personal income that has been derived from the charging for the grant of waivers.

Aggregates Tax

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of any impact which the aggregates tax will have upon employment in Scotland over each of the next three years.

Sarah Boyack: The aggregates tax is unlikely to have any impact over the next two years, as it will not be introduced until April 2002. Thereafter, there may be small reductions in employment in the extraction of primary aggregates, but there could also be increases in employment in the recycling of aggregates. However, the short-term elasticity of demand for these products is low, so it would be surprising if there were major impacts.

  In addition, there are likely to be increases in employment stimulated by the sustainability fund, and the reductions in employers’ National Insurance contributions.

Body Piercing

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5398 by Susan Deacon on 30 March 2000, when the consultation on the need or otherwise for controls over skin piercing will be completed and who it intends to consult on this issue.

Susan Deacon: The consultation timetable has not yet been set. The list of consultees has not yet been finalised but will include public health interests and local authorities. A consultation document, together with a timetable for consultation will be published in due course.

Children

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many adoptions were carried out in each of the last three years for which figures are available; (b) how many couples are currently on the waiting list to adopt; (c) what is the average age of children when adopted; (d) what is the average age of parents who adopt and (e) what plans it has to improve and standardise adoption procedures.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The total number of adoption applications granted for the last three years and the average age of children is as follows:

  


Calendar Year


Total no of applications 
which were granted (a)


Average age of 
child when application granted (b)




1997


369


7 years 5 months




1998


400


7 years 6 months




1999


388


7 years 2 months1




  Sources:

  (a). Scottish Executive Courts Group CJ&ID.

  (b). Scottish Executive, Education Statistics Division (A2 statistical return completed by sheriff courts).

  Notes:

  1. Figures for 1999 are as yet unpublished and should therefore be regarded as provisional.

  Information on the number of couples currently on the waiting list to adopt and on the average age of adoptive parents is not held centrally.

  We aim to improve and standardise adoption procedure through the establishment of a Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. The Commission will be responsible for regulating all care services, including local authority adoption services, which are not currently open to independent scrutiny. Voluntary adoption agencies are currently approved by Scottish Ministers but will be regulated by the Commission in the future.

  We will also be watching closely the adoption review currently being undertaken in England and Wales for any lessons which may be learned.

Children

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage fostering.

Mr Sam Galbraith: We are committed to ensuring that every child who might benefit from fostering has equal access to it, no matter where they are in Scotland. A range of initiatives is in place or planned to help achieve this goal.

  This includes £4.7 million additional funding for community placements through the Children’s Services Development Fund; improving national standards in foster care; work on a Scottish Code of Practice for local authorities on recruitment, selection and assessment of foster carers; reviewing the regulation of payment of foster carers and commissioning advice on salaried payments for foster carers. We are also funding a research evaluation of the National Children’s Homes Action for Children project on Community Alternative Placement Schemes which provide foster placements for young people aged 12-16 years who are at imminent or long-term risk of entry to secure accommodation. The final report should be available by the end of this year and will provide an opportunity to share good practice with local authorities, many of whom are developing their own specialist fostering services.

Digital Scotland Task Force

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation process will follow the publication of the report of the Digital Scotland Task Force and how long any consultation process is likely to take.

Peter Peacock: As indicated in my answer to question S1W-5587, the Executive intends to consult publicly on the Digital Scotland Task Force report as soon as possible after it is completed. We believe that the process of consulting on the Task Force’s recommendations will help ensure that the important issues which the Task Force has been asked to look into will be properly aired and better understood. The consultation period will last at least four weeks and will encourage electronic responses.

Education

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities had a discrete post of Director of Education in each year since the reorganisation of local government in 1996, and how many no longer have a dedicated Director of Education post.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The information requested is provided in the table below. It is based on information provided by education authorities in each year. Figures for this year are provisional.

  


Year


Number of authorities 
with discrete Director of Education posts*




1996


29




1997


26




1998


23




1999


21




2000


20#




  * Where authorities have posts which are not titled "Director of Education" but deal solely with education (e.g. Director of Education Services) then those posts have been counted as discrete.

  # One Director of Education post will become Director of Education and Social Work from 1 July 2000.

Education

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Law Society of Scotland and law faculties concerning the place of human rights legislation and the European Convention on Human Rights in the school curriculum.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive has had no such discussions.

Education

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4751 by Peter Peacock on 10 March 2000, to specify the range of subjects in which local authorities have reported difficulties in maintaining teacher supply cover.

Peter Peacock: The education authorities which have reported difficulties in maintaining supply cover did so in a wide range of subjects. The subjects most mentioned, that is by up to four or five education authorities, are mathematics, technological education, music, religious education, chemistry, art and PE.

Education

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Scottish schools have developed annual technology plans to consider education goals, staff development, software selection, and the evaluation of educational effectiveness with respect to IT.

Peter Peacock: Schools must have an ICT development plan in order to take advantage of the programme of ICT training being offered by the New Opportunities Fund. In 1998 all Scottish schools were issued with a copy of Scottish Schools: Using the Superhighways , a guide to ICT and development planning. Schools are expected to incorporate their plans for the use of ICT within their School Development Plan and to evaluate it as part of their ongoing quality assurance arrangements.

Education

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new teaching jobs will be created in the next three years, broken down by year and by nursery, primary and secondary sectors, and how they will be funded.

Peter Peacock: The Programme for Government target is to recruit 1,000 additional teachers by 2002. The Executive expects that these posts will be found in all sectors but have not disaggregated the target across all sectors or years. It will be for education authorities as the managers of schools and the employers of teachers to make appropriate additional appointments in the light of the requirements of their schools and their general plans for raising standards. Additional posts will be necessary to meet national objectives in a number of key areas. These include the reduction in class sizes to 30 or fewer in P1-P3, the early intervention and alternatives to exclusion programmes and the expansion of pre-school provision. Significant additional resources are being made available to authorities through the Excellence Fund and their conventional funding sources to allow them to take forward these objectives.

Employment

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what stimulus it will provide to the construction industry in Glasgow to encourage the training of new skilled apprentices.

Henry McLeish: I am pleased to say that there is a strong history of apprenticeships in the construction industry in Glasgow and there are currently 985 Modern Apprentices training in construction-related trades in Glasgow. I can assure you that the Scottish Executive is committed to promoting training at craft, technician and junior management level through the Modern Apprenticeship programme and, as you are aware, in Programme for Government we set a target of 20,000 Modern Apprenticeships by 2003.

  Modern Apprenticeships are delivered through the wider Skillseekers programme by the Enterprise Network. Scottish Enterprise Glasgow is responsible for assessing the skills requirements of the local economy and providing a contribution to funding of Modern Apprentices, including those in construction.

European Funding

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify all representations which it has made to Her Majesty’s Government in relation to those parts of Scotland which should be included in the assisted area status map.

Henry McLeish: The Scottish Executive maintains regular contact with The Scotland Office on a range of matters affecting the development of the Scottish economy, including the proposals for a new Assisted Areas map.

Fraud

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the trade in illegal passports, what steps it will take to prevent any misuse of records on births and deaths held by the General Register Office for Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: It would not be helpful in combating identity fraud to be too specific about the Scottish Administration's co-operation in this field with UK Government agencies and with those responsible for law-enforcement north and south of the Border, nor about the new counter-measures being put in place.

  However, the General Register Office for Scotland this spring made available to the UK Passport Agency in electronic format a substantial subset of linked birth and death records in certain categories mainly at risk of being used for identity fraud, and they plan during summer 2000 to complete the linking of records in these high-risk categories.

  It is worth reiterating that an entry in the Register of Births is the public record of an event. Anyone can obtain an official extract of this record on payment of the statutory fee. A birth certificate is therefore simply an official record of the birth-event in portable form on paper. It is NOT an identity document and in particular tells one nothing about the person bearing or presenting it. It is up to the persons or bodies asking to see a birth certificate to assess its value in terms of their own checking procedure.

  In the case of the UK Passport Agency, the birth certificate has value in assessing a claim to British nationality, but for identity purposes an applicant is required to submit a recent photograph signed by a counter-signatory who knows him. Counter-signatories are people whose bona fides can be checked - and who have something to lose if applications endorsed by them are discovered to be bogus.

Global Knowledge Conference

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be sending representatives to the Second Global Knowledge Conference In Kuala Lumpur on 7 March 2000 and, if so, whom it will send.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive did not send representatives to the Second Global Knowledge Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the project on electronic transmission of prescription information between GP practices and pharmacies and what the current status is of the tendering process relating to this project.

Susan Deacon: This important project is now being taken forward within the Scottish Care Information (SCI) programme which was announced on 21 April. Interested bidding consortia have been advised accordingly.

Justice

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the absence of the Lord Justice Clerk will have on criminal appeals, and, in particular, on the timescale for such appeals.

Mr Jim Wallace: An additional Judge was appointed to compensate for the absence of Lord Cullen on other business. This has enabled the regular pattern of Appeal Court sittings to continue.

Landownership

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend the law in relation to ownership of landed estates in Scotland so that any non-resident owner, including all limited companies, may be required to appoint a mandatory, local agent to be legally responsible for performing the obligations of the owner.

Mr Jim Wallace: We agree the importance of accessible local representation, but we see considerable difficulties with such a proposal for legislation. There would appear to be difficulties of regulation to ensure compliance by non-resident owners, and also of defining the legal responsibilities of such local agents.

  Instead, the issue of local representation will be addressed, amongst other matters, in the Executive’s development of a Code of Good Practice on Rural Landownership, which we plan to launch later this year.

Lifelong Learning

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to develop community learning accounts alongside its proposals for individual learning accounts.

Henry McLeish: We have no present plans to do so, but I have agreed with the STUC to establish a Trade Union Working Party on Lifelong Learning as a means of enhancing the involvement of trade unions in the broad lifelong learning agenda in Scotland.

NHS Trusts

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Yorkhill NHS Trust will retain independent status after 2001 and, if not, what its new status will be.

Susan Deacon: Greater Glasgow Health Board is at present carrying out a public consultation exercise on its proposals to modernise acute hospital services across the city. The future of maternity and children’s services form part of that process. The health board has also instigated a review of the role of Yorkhill NHS Trust which will also include a public consultation.

  The outcome of both consultations will be known in the autumn. I will then be in a position to consider the future status of Yorkhill NHS Trust.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown, by unit of delivery, of the number of people who have joined the New Deal for Young People since it started.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations as indicated in the answer to question S1W-6437 also answered today.

  PQ S1W-6438 also covers the answer to this question.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been employed in subsidised and unsubsidised jobs since the New Deal for Young People was introduced.

Henry McLeish: Employment Policy is reserved to the UK Government which therefore takes the lead on the funding and delivery of the New Deal throughout Great Britain, although in close consultation with its partners, including the Scottish Executive. Many partner organisations at local level also provide New Deal services under contract or provide funds and other resources, including training funds to enhance the quality of New Deal in their areas. The public and voluntary sector organisations, which contribute to the New Deal in this way, fall within the remit of the Scottish Executive.

  Since the New Deal for Young People was introduced, 23,000 people have been employed in subsidised and unsubsidised jobs (up until the end of February).

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown, by unit of delivery, of people who have moved into unsubsidised employment since the New Deal for Young People was introduced.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved for the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations, as indicated in the answer to question S1W-6437 also answered today.

  The unit of delivery tables below detail the number of young people who have moved into unsubsidised employment and the numbers who have joined the New Deal for Young People since it was introduced (up until the end of January).

  

 

Joined


Entered Unsubsidised 
Employment




Ayrshire


4,514


1,789




Tayside


4,333


1,818




Borders


722


316




Dumfries & Galloway


1,266


489




Dunbarton


1,991


873




Edinburgh, East & Mid Lothian


3,666


1,484




Fife


3,683


1,529




Forth Valley


2,663


1,085




Glasgow


8,934


3,009




Grampian


1,775


701




Moray, Strathspey & Badenoch


408


204




Lanarkshire


6,722


2,905




Renfrewshire


2,885


1,246




West Lothian


1,117


557




Argyll & The Islands


494


217




Caithness & Sutherland


278


102




Inverness & Nairn


478


205




Lochaber


90


52




Western Isles


221


84




Orkney


73


27




Ross & Cromarty


337


160




Shetland


60


27




Skye & Lochalsh


85


35

Nuclear Weapons

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty’s Government on the potential public risk and environmental dangers resulting from year 2000 computer problems affecting Trident nuclear submarines in Scotland.

Henry McLeish: Matters pertaining to the Ministry of Defence are reserved. The Cabinet Office has responsibility for monitoring Year 2000 issues for all UK Government Departments, including the Ministry of Defence and full details can be found on their website http://www.citu.gov.uk/y2000.htm .

  The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Cabinet Office on a wide range of issues, including the Year 2000.

Police

Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what role technology can play in reducing the amount of time police officers spend on administrative duties and increasing the time available for prevention and detection of crime.

Mr Jim Wallace: There are many ways in which new technology can help to reduce the time police officers spend on administration. Electronic links with the procurator fiscal, for example, as part of the Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems project (ISCJIS) are reducing the administrative effort required in handling police crime reports. The Scottish Police Information Strategy which will integrate forces’ IT systems, and the Public Safety and Radio Communications Service, which will provide the police on the beat with online access to data, will bring significant benefits in the future.

Police

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-972 by Mr Jim Wallace on 17 September 1999, what total cost was incurred by Central Scotland Police in respect of the disciplinary hearing of Inspector John Bunyan.

Mr Jim Wallace: I understand that Central Scotland Police met costs for legal fees and expert witnesses for the hearing of a little over £100,000.

Prison Service

Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what drug rehabilitation services are available for offenders in Scottish prisons.

Angus MacKay: Scotland’s prisons offer a range of drug rehabilitation services to meet the needs, aspirations and motivations of their populations. These range from awareness programmes to improve knowledge levels and motivation for change, through one-to-one counselling, groupwork and in-depth therapeutic rehabilitation programmes. In reporting year 1999-2000 over 5,000 prisoners accessed these services.

Rail Network

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to detail any projects it proposes to support and the level of funding it will add to assist the implementation of Railtrack’s Network Management Strategy.

Sarah Boyack: I refer Mr MacAskill to the reply I gave to question S1W-5865.

Rape

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering the development of a new definition of rape; whether, in so doing, it will take into consideration the views of victims of rape, and whether it will give a timescale for developing any new definition.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive has no plans to change the definition of rape. As with other criminal offences, this is an issue that we keep under review and if in future the Executive does consider any change is required, we would of course consult all appropriate interests, including victims’ groups.

Schools

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the total amount it would cost in current cash terms to effect all school building maintenance outstanding at the present time, indicating the amount for each local authority and, in the event that this information is not held centrally, whether it has any plans to conduct an audit to gather such information.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The overall management of their school building stock is a matter for individual education authorities. Detailed information of the kind requested is not held centrally. Education authorities generally have their own assessments of school building maintenance and other needs, although these may not be on a basis which is consistent across authorities. We are currently discussing with local authority representatives aspects of school building needs, including the scope for improving the consistency of such information across all authorities.

Schools

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the total estimated expenditure on school building maintenance by each local authority in financial years 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The overall management of their school building stock is a matter for individual education authorities. Detailed information of the kind requested is not held centrally.

Schools

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide indicative (a) building and (b) maintenance unit costs for (i) new primary schools, (ii) new secondary schools, (iii) primary school extensions and (iv) secondary school extensions.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Schools

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how bullying is best countered in schools.

Mr Sam Galbraith: There is no single solution for tackling bullying but the most important thing a school can do is have a clear policy to which the staff, pupils and parents are committed. A range of guidance on this issue has been issued to schools and advocates whole school policies to combat bullying.

  We have already set up a national network to share good practice in tackling bullying across Scotland. The project is making a range of anti-bullying materials available to schools, pupils, teachers and parents as well as providing in-school training and a consultancy service to support individual schools in developing effective strategies, and enable teachers to recognise and deal with bullying problems.

Schools

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities have school anti-bullying strategies in place.

Mr Sam Galbraith: This information is not collected centrally.

Schools

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a national anti-bullying strategy would help reduce the number of cases of bullying in schools.

Mr Sam Galbraith: I refer the member to the answer I gave to question S1W-6428.

Scottish Executive

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to change its working title from "The Scottish Executive" to "The Scottish Government".

Donald Dewar: No.

Scottish Executive Staff

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many current members of its information directorate worked for the Labour Party in media relations prior to the establishment of the Scottish Executive, what dates their current contracts began and what their grade is.

Donald Dewar: It is evident from our employment records that none of the current members of Information Directorate staff has previously worked for the Labour Party in media relations.

Sport

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what direct expenditure in the Grampian area will be generated by the staging of the World Corporate Games in Aberdeen in July 2000.

Henry McLeish: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to reply to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

Sport

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what long-term benefits to the Grampian area will result from the World Corporate Games in Aberdeen in July 2000.

Henry McLeish: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and I have asked the Chairman to reply to the member. A copy of the reply will be placed in SPICe.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place between the Deputy Minister for Highlands and Islands and Gaelic and the Minister for Transport and the Environment on improving the signage of tourist attractions and tourist facilities from motorways and strategic trunk roads, and what has been the outcome of those discussions.

Sarah Boyack: I meet regularly with the Deputy Minister for Highlands and Islands and Gaelic to discuss cross-cutting matters concerning our respective portfolios.